Morning Ritual
by KSlycke08
Summary: In between the chaos and anarchy of the Brotherhood House Sabretooth and Mystique have a quiet moment. Part 3 of my Playing House series.


A story set in the between quiet times of the madness of the Brotherhood House.

A Sabretique story.

Dedicated to spocks_baby.

Morning Ritual

"You're kidding, right?"

Outside of the Brotherhood House the sky was still dark and Mystique didn't even think it was time to wake up yet.

"C'mon, it's not that bad." Sabretooth said his voice coming through the dark.

"Vic, it's…" She cracked one eye open and looked at the red angry numbers of the alarm clock. "Five in the morning…" She yawned.

"You don't have to get up if you don't want to. I can do this by myself."

"Let me guess, early morning or late night?" She asked still half asleep.

"Ha. Ha."

Her voice was still rough and she didn't feel like waking up. It was still another hour until they had to wake up the Brotherhood and get them fed and changed and on their way to school where most of them went to Bayville High School.

Besides she was still vice-principal and had to go to work, too. Creed was not doing her any favors by waking her up this early.

"It's only another hour." He said.

"Fine. Let's get this over with, then." Mystique said.

It had only been a few weeks since he had moved in here but she knew well enough that if he didn't start out the day without his morning ritual he would be in a bad mood all day.

"You never complained about it before." Sabretooth said.

"I have to go to work, too." She said.

"Oh for crying out loud I'll be done long before you have to get ready for work."

"Just hurry it up." Mystique sighed. Who would have guessed that Sabretooth was a morning person?

"Go back to sleep then."

"Well I can't _now_." She answered. There was no arguing with him and she knew it.

"Quit yer complainin'. Nobody's askin ya ta work."

"Work? Is that what you think it is anymore?"

He'd actually been slacking off about it for the past week or so and Mystique was getting frustrated. Why he had to choose today to make up for it was beyond her though.

"No, you do your _job_." She added sarcastically.

Outside the early glow of the pre-dawn sunrise was just beginning to show and she knew that it was long past going back to bed. She had breakfast to make and work to do before the kids woke up and Sabretooth was still taking his time.

"I ain't slacking now, am I?" Sabretooth interrupted, her thoughts back to the present.

"No. No. Not at all." She said automatically. It didn't matter if it were true or not he just wanted to hear the words.

She actually didn't think it would have come down to that. Ever since Creed started shaving and getting his haircut she always thought it was something he liked to do. In reality she liked it too.

In the dark she thought she heard him sigh in frustration.

"What?" She asked.

Again she thought she heard him sigh.

"What?" She asked again.

"Well, you could be a little more enthusiastic. I'm tryin' here." He said.

She was actually surprised by that. Creed had never said much about it before and she had never been one to wax romantic or express herself and right now all she wanted to do was go back to sleep. But, she could tell it was important to him so she more or less forced herself to be interested. No matter how hard it was.

He really was trying, too. Not just with her but with the kids, too. This morning was just another example of that and she tried to do her best to be supportive of that.

"I know. I know." She murmured. "Just…try to be a little quieter about it." She said.

"Quieter?" He asked. "I thought I _was_ being quiet."

"I can hear you."

"Well, yeah, you're right here." He said.

"You want to wake up those kids?" She replied glancing towards the door. They only had half an hour left and then all the chaos would begin again.

"Good point." Sabretooth said whispering instead.

They both knew that once the Brotherhood woke up it would be nonstop anarchy from sunrise to well past sunset when they finally wore themselves out. With Mystique working at Bayville and Sabretooth taking care of the Brotherhood House they didn't have much time to themselves so this morning was actually something special.

In fact, they couldn't even remember the last time they talked like this.

It was almost…...nice.

"Well, are you about finished?" Mystique asked after a while.

"Yeah, gimme a minute." Sabretooth said.

Standing outside the bathroom Sabretooth finished wiping his face and brushing his teeth.

"What do you think?"

Sometimes having one bathroom was a pain.

"Mmmm, I think it looks nice." Mystique said throwing the covers off her body and eyeing him.

Grinning Sabretooth finished combing his hair.

It was her turn now.

The End


End file.
